The reopening of the pedestrian walkway "will improve access for tens of thousands of daily travelers."

A walkway beneath West Street linking the World Trade Center site to the former World Financial Center and the Hudson River waterfront is scheduled to reopen Thursday for the first time since 9/11. The financial center is now known as the Brookdale Place Pavilion.Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

NEW YORK — A walkway that linked the World Trade Center site to the old World Financial Center and the Hudson River waterfront will reopen on Thursday for the fist time since the walkway was damaged on 9/11, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Tuesday.

The Port Authority said restoration of the "key pedestrian link will improve access for tens of thousands of daily travelers," many of whom use the New York Waterway Ferry Terminal at the financial center, across the Hudson River from Jersey City.

Known as the West Concourse, the underground walkway will let travelers cross the Lower Manhattan's broad and heavily traveled West Street unhindered by traffic or weather.

The vast World Financial Center office complex, including a vaulting glass atrium that opens onto a waterfront plaza, a marina and the ferry terminal, is now known as the Brookfield Place Pavilion.

On Thursday morning, representatives of the Port Authority and of the Westfield Group and Brookfield Office Properties, which own and operate the former financial center, will hold a reopening ceremony for the walkway, formally known as the World Trade Center West Concourse.